I got up fairly early, made myself a pot noodle breakfast, packed up all my mess and headed off. The nearby train station went to Nara which was good and it cost ¥560. I got my ticket, found the right platform and arrived around 9.30. There was a tourist information desk so I asked about my onward journey to Kyoto and there was a private train company or the JR which was from the main station which was better for me. I headed to the hostel but couldn't see it. I walked round the block and then tried the next block where there was another hostel. I asked there and she found it on maps but her direction was upside down so it was confusing. I headed there but couldn't find the hostel so I found some WiFi and tried google maps and it had the hostel location as my booking connected into Google. I went there and it was right next to where I'd started but the address was a bit understated and not the bright "here I am" I've come to expect from hostels. I got a bottom bunk and left my luggage and the woman there recommended the Todaiji and Yakushiji temples to see. I headed east as that was the main area and saw a few small places before getting to an octagonal hall at 11 which a bit busy. I carried on and there was a tall pagoda, 5 floors which happened to be the 2nd highest in Japan. You couldn't get in though and the nearby golden hall charged entry. There was a museum which was scaffolded and closed and then there was another temple with ¥300 entry. I came to the park with deer and one came at me with doe eyes maybe because I was eating something so I put my food away and she left after a bit. The park was nice and do was Nara but I'd arrived with trousers on, changed to shorts as it was hot and now it was colder and looked like it might rain. I had put on my green Myanmar trousers over my shorts which made me pretty conspicuous so I wasn't going to get away with walking unnoticed into places as if I'd do such a thing. There were lots of people feeding the deer but I moved on and the Nara museum was ¥1,500 discounted to ¥1,300 if you're a big group. They also had the old building which was the Buddha sculpture wing but I left the park and tried to get into a garden which I'd read was free entry but there was no way through and next door was a free museum so I had a look and it was for a building company which did earthquake proofing and they had a chair which demonstrated what it was like in the 3 main earthquakes of Japan and also with their building suspension dampening in place. I moved on and headed to the main attraction. I got there and there was a nice big wooden gate with wooden statues on both sides. There was a path up to the temple but in the left was a museum so I had a look and the entry fee was ¥500, but I used the toilet which I was needing a lot in Japan. The main wooden Todaji temple building was big and is the largest in the world. Inside was a big Buddha statue which lots of people were taking photos of and I did as well. I walked around the hall and there was a queue so I went to see what they were waiting for and it was the hole in wood pillar which I'd read about and it was good luck to squeeze through. The queue had got much longer so I watched a few people squeeze through and then carried on. I left the hall and went up the hill way where there were temples and a viewing area. I used the toilet again before going up the hill properly and walked off the path and then back onto the path as it was quicker. The path joined a main path near the hill top where there were people picking ferns which I thought was to eat at the time. I headed towards the proper top of the hill but there was an entrance ticket for top so I walked down and got a good view anyway. I got down and there was a ticket booth at bottom for the area I'd been in. I looked at the map and decided to go to the far away place as the hostel lady had recommended it. I headed off and went via some small temple places nearby. After that it was a long walk with not much to see just houses and a few shops. I came to the train track and the barrier went down for a train just before I got there. On the other side a bit along the road was a supermarket with good prices so I bought a few things to eat before carrying on. I got to the temple around 4pm or so and went to the ticket booth. The woman recommended not doing the special exhibition as it was a bit late but still the entry was ¥1,100. I went in and there was a sign for no photos in the hall after I gad already taken 4. I thought of going back and asking for a refund but I decided I would just take some anyway as I don't agree with these no photo rules. Outside there was just 1 pagoda as the other one was scaffolded. I read the brochure and the wrong, new one was the one I could see which was disappointing as the other pagoda was the only original building here. I went into the other hall and had a look around and wentout and then left the temple by mistake but I walked back in with no problems. I went back through the special exhibition hall which I realised since I was inside but nobody checked my ticket and it was rubbish anyway, to think they charge ¥500 when I walked around it in 1 minute. I went out to the other temple location where they didn't check tickets. There were a few buildings not all open but one had some quite large ok paintings with nice colours. They were large but not amazing and I left going north from there. I came to a lake on the way and then got to the Heijo palace area. There was a gate and the area was open but the route in crossed some train tracks and the road was closed. I went around and it was ok to to do so with those paths open. The main palace building was closed as it was late but it still looked decent from outside. I walked around it before moving on east and came to the old ruins area with grass and old building foundation stones. The archaeology place was closed so I headed for a temple but that was closed. It was getting quite late and my brother would be flying soon so I tried to get some WiFi to check my messages and I went to a shop and McDonald's but their WiFi didn't work so I couldn't talk to Clive. I managed to get WiFi later but it was too late as he was already on the plane. I got back to the hostel and left most of my things, ate some food and headed out to the supermarket I'd been to earlier. It was a bit longer than I thought as I went from the wrong bookmark and I arrived at almost 8.30 but it was still open. I bought a few things and headed back to the hostel. I got back and ate some more and read the Japan lonely planet book they had their before going to sleep
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